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ADDENDUM: We've now learned that under the new districts drawn for Columbia County Commission and School Board, Damon Cline's residence is in District 1 - not District 2. See the linked story for details.

Theoretically, we could say the first drop of the other shoe for opposition to Magnolia Trace came this weekend when Damon Cline, who works at Georgia Health Sciences University, tossed his hat in the ring for the Columbia County Commission District 2 seat.

So, here I am going through the reader responses to my column on teen drinking arrests, and what do we get?

Another police report, with more teens charged with underage drinking.

So, moms and dads? Whatever our policy might be on preserving news of the citations for eternity via our Internet archives, it might be a good idea to remind your kids that it is illegal to drink alcohol if you’re a) younger than 21, and b) not in your own home under your own parent’s supervision.

This question comes after several days of presidential candidates sparring over the release of their income tax returns. The target, mostly, is bajillionaire Mitt Romney, because the other Republican candidates are such anti-capitalists.

Wait; that isn’t exactly right. They just oppose any capitalist who isn’t supporting them with his or her money. Such money given to them, of course, is clean and pure; it’s all the other money in politics that’s dirty.

Being on the border with South Carolina has its benefits, including the availability of fireworks and cheaper gas.

It also puts us in the coverage zone as television stations bombard us with ads for and against contenders in Saturday’s upcoming Republican presidential primary. In some respects, it’s similar to the bleedover from ads we get for chain restaurants without a location here: Yeah, Dave and Buster’s sounds like fun, but we don’t have one.

We’ve all seen the recent stories and commentary about plans to merge some campuses of Georgia’s public universities.

The concept sounds good, especially in areas where two small, liberal arts colleges are within spitting distance of each other. The ideas took on new life this past year when Hank Huckaby was named as the new chancellor of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents.

At the risk of kicking over the momentarily quiet hornet’s nest called Magnolia Trace, something about the process has been bugging me.

No, not the nonsense about the development company making campaign contributions to state politicians, which theoretically could have resulted in someone holding a meeting – as if it takes any effort to get a politician to hold a meeting.

What’s been bothering me is this: Most things commissioners consider go through their committee system – but the Magnolia Trace proposal didn’t. Why not?

Typically, cops tell us, the first time someone is arrested for shoplifting isn’t the first time the person has stolen. The thief usually commits the crime two or three times before getting caught.

Cops also know those crimes are more likely to stop the sooner the shoplifter is caught in that cycle.

So it goes with other crimes, too. And in the case of Scott Dean, convicted Thursday on two counts of child molestation, prosecutors worked to establish that Dean’s criminal sexual history spanned more than two decades.